We’ve talked before about the myriad ways that The Post likes to engage its readers. I wanted to bring attention to an idea from our photography department that was just plain cool.

Eric Lutzens, multimedia producer

Eric Lutzens, a Colorado native, has been at The Post since 1996, starting as a lab technician cleaning processors and processing film. Since that time, as The Post photography department went digital, he developed his editing and video skills to be a multimedia producer and vital to many multimedia projects.

Last Friday, for the Rockies home opener, Lutzens spent a great day at Coors Field putting together the first of what we hope will be many entries in The Denver Post BigPix. The technology that makes it possible comes from a site called GigaPan. I asked Lutzens some questions about the story behind the image and what plans they’ve got for the technology.

“Journalism is Dead; Long Live Journalism”, is a fast-paced, results-focused summit from 10 a.m. on Wednesday, April 3 through 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 4, 2013, at the University of Denver. It’s for journalists, technologists, librarians, media educators, students and engaged citizens who want to celebrate and invent participatory journalism for the 21st century. New Yorker writer Bill McKibben will give a keynote address on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. as the 2013 Estlow Center Anvil of Freedom award winner.

Please note that in several instances on Wednesday and Thursday we lost our Internet connection, and then continued broadcasting. Because of that, if you watch the video archive, and the video says it’s no longer available, just drag the scrubber ahead past it, and you can begin watching again.

The project, which two reporters worked on exclusively for 9 months, was one of the Post’s most ambitious. This was also one of our first opportunities to incorporate the web in the storytelling.

Unfortunately, it looks like most of the work has expired … lost to old servers and new content management systems, but I was able to track down the flash presentation – so cutting edge in 2003, quite dated now – via the Way Back Machine. We incorporated lots of online extras, some of which are still accessible, some not.

We do these things because we want to reach as many people as possible. Some of these things work. Some things don’t. Some things might. But common industry wisdom says we have to try everything, because newspapers (a label that sounds incomplete) have an important legacy of being all things for all people. We are the public record for our city.

There’s been much ado on the internet this week about “free” freelance. The current round was spurred by Nate Thayer, who was approached by The Atlantic, who wanted to “repurpose” a piece he’d written for NKnews.org – only, they weren’t going to pay him. (Instead, they offered him “exposure” – something that Thayer, who says that several years ago The Atlantic offered him a $125K stipend for 6 stories, scoffed at.)

Thus began a impassioned, but literate, firestorm on the internet about what the current digital-media culture – in which writers are paid very little, if anything, for a substantial amount of work – means for the future of good journalism. Among those piping in:

Angelina's leg had its own Twitter account before it even left the red carpet.

There are so many journalistic benefits to this rapid-fire digital world of Tweeting, Instagramming, Tumblring and so forth. We can share information more quickly. We can broaden our search for sources. We can connect personally and intimately with our audience.

But here’s one conundrum that weighs heavily on Entertainment journalists during the January-February Awards season. If we’re spending the entire evening Tweeting or live-blogging about the Golden Globes (or Grammys, or Oscars), are we really able to watch them? And if we aren’t really able to watch them, are we really able to critique them?

I’m a big fan of the Oscars. Always loved that broadcast (a close second to the Kennedy Centers in my opinion). I was excited last year by the prospect of covering them for the Post. Only problem: I spent the entire evening editing blog posts and monitoring Twitter feeds. Other than a few stolen glances at the television set across the newsroom, I didn’t see a minute of the show. What was Angelina wearing? The only way I knew was when someone set up an “Angelina Jolie’s Leg” Twitter account.

It was fun. I enjoyed reading the pithy comments from our critics and writers, and watching Tweetdeck was almost as exciting as watching the show itself.

I am the News Director at The Denver Post. I have been at The Post since 1999 in a variety of positions, including city editor and investigations editor. I previously worked at The Des Moines Register, and in Greenville, S.C.

I am a Colorado native who has been at The Post since 1996, working in copy editing and design before moving to administration. I created my first newspaper when the Broncos went to the Super Bowl in 1978.

I am the Digital Director for The Denver Post. I joined the Post’s web staff in 1999 — one week before the tragedy at Columbine High School. Prior to my journalism career, I worked in Washington as a legislative assistant for a New York congressman.

I am the Denver Post city editor and a Colorado native, who has worked at news organizations of all sizes. Raised to be a princess, I continue my adolescent rebellion by keeping bees and chickens in the backyard of a house my husband and I rescued from the wrecking ball. Read her full biography »